RBE

Nice.

Which did you order?

It won't be an EM2, it will most likely be an ESU speaker as per that class 56 but we will of course assess the best speaker for the sound file once it has been recorded.

No it wasn't a max pre-order job. The retailers decided on their order quantities, pre order and general stock items, and we delivered to them to suit. I know that a lot of them are now selling through. Also I think a lot of websites are now changing over from pre-order to stock items so maybe give it a while to see where it lands after the changeover.

Hi Wayne, it's not a rivals magazine, it may be Hornby mag but it is actually nothing to do with Hornby. It's kind of like a vacuum cleaner mag calling itself Hoover magazine. Anyway we digress, we are planning to make the chips available as aftermarket upgrades but have not nailed down the details as yet. The speaker is the new ESU passive radiator sized the same as an EM1and has been made available commercially recently.

No the hall sensor will be fitted to all models as it's part of the main circuit board. There is a small magnet on the bogie that triggers the hall sensor on the main board.

Yes correct. The none sound model doesn't have a speaker fitted as we are using the new ESU passive radiator speaker in our locos which was developed in tandem with our class 56. Either way it is plug and play for both speaker and DCC chip.

Yes it comes with two. On those models the drivers side lamp iron is left out of the model and you can choose either the normal lamp iron or the headboard from the detail pack.

Yes I get that but the motors are not intended to be oiled. If you need to then it is a strip out of the circuit board which is not a major deal and could be part of a major overhaul.

He stated bushes not brushes but still there should be no need to oil them. Oil tends to pick up crud over time and can make issues worse.

The drive mechanisms are designed to be maintenance free and the lubrication applied at the factory should not need replacing however oiling the bogie gears is a doddle by either removing the bogie keeper plate and oiling from the bottom or inserting a fine nozzle through an access point on the bogie side, we would advise caution here though as excess oil can lead to leakage and potentially oil on the wheel treads which can effect traction. As for access to the motor is a strip down internally, however the motor shouldn't require any maintenance whatsoever so not sure that it would be necessary on routine maintenance.

The 60s don't cost nothing though, they have gotten to a point where some investment is necessary to do a proper overhaul but DB aren't willing to pay the costs and do the work. The 60 can out perform 66's all day long and according to the chap at DCR is more fuel economical as well.

Who's suggesting letting 66s rot? Just quoting what the chap who oversaw the refitting of the 60s for DCR said. He is an ex employee of DB.

Well it's because the bean counters have decided that the 66 costs less to operate however they are not taking into account the full story regarding the 60 and how efficiently it can operate, so quite sad really.

Yeah that's correct however it isn't going to work. You'll just have a train that a 60 can do with it's feet up vs a train that a regeared 66 is thrashing it's knackers off to move. Oh well.

It may or may not be extra, however the paint scheme requires a different decorating process and at this point we are in discussion with the factory whether this will incur extra costs to produce. Once we know the process costs we will be able to give an accurate figure.

They are all arriving together.

Yes agreed, our ship was diverted via the cape rather than the Red Sea so hence the 10 day delay.

It due to arrive mid January as previously reported. We will of course keep you all updated!! Regards Cav

Great to see all of our wagons being put to good use!!!

That's very true. I will say however that 019 looks amazing in the flesh and is actually my favourite of them all I think.

The red on the red stripe is the exact code used on the real livery. It's rail red and always looks to be on the lighter end of the red spectrum.

There will be specific decoders for full functionality yes.

Currently en route to the UK. We are expecting them mid January.

The chassis is not designed to have the portion of bufferbeam that you would see when cut away to have any detail so as such you couldn't do that.